The appletree
by Leonew
Summary: Renji and Rukia are sitting in a tree... No the continuation of that is not what you might think.
1. Chapter 1

The sun was setting, giving the landscape a bright red glow. Renji was sitting on the branch of a large tree, his back leaning against the trunk. Now and then he threw a glance at Rukia, who had slipped as far to the end of the branch as she could. Her hand was reaching out to an apple that was growing there.  
'Be careful you idiot. You might fall.' Renji growled.  
Rukia just looked back and grinned.  
It had been a long time since the two of them had last been here, the tree from their childhood at Rukongai. With their shinigami duties they hardly ever had the time to come here and hang out. And the last few months it had been completely impossible, with Rukia hiding in the material world first and then being locked away in expectation of her execution.

Renji sighed at the serenity of the moment. Finally some peace and quiet.  
Just then, the branch broke and Rukia disappeared through the foliage with a shriek.  
'Rukia!' Renji jumped down after her and landed smoothly. He immediately went over to the crumpled heap that was his childhood friend. 'Rukia! Are you alright?'  
She growled as she untangled herself, 'No I'm not alright, obviously. I just fell down eight feet.'  
Renji crossed his arms and turned away. 'Well that's you own fault for acting so recklessly. You should have seen that coming.'  
Suddenly, he yelled out and started dancing around on one foot, holding the other in his hand.  
'What the hell?! You bit me?'  
'That's what you get for being so unsupportive!' she smirked.  
The other shinigami narrowed his eyes as she sat up, then he suddenly smirked back. 'You haven't changed a bit.'

He extended his hand to help her get up. 'I'm glad.'

* * *

Just a short writing practise. Hope it will inspire me to write more again. Comment on the story in any way you like or just don't :)  
I don't own Bleach ofcourse.


	2. Chapter 2

The next day Renji couldn't help but going at the tree again.  
When he arrived he saw her sitting there. On the same thick branch they had sat together, Rukia was sleeping peacefully.  
Not wanting to disturb her, Renji sat down at its base and made himself comfortable. The weather was nice and soft. It was the middle of the day and the sun was shining brightly. Bugs were buzzing in the grass.  
Renji let his eyes pass over his surroundings. Not everything was the same as he remembered. Their old shack was still there but it was a ruin now. The shrubbery around it had grown thicker, obscuring the rest of the forest from sight.  
He sighed and looked up towards the other shinigami. He hadn't had the chance to have a good look at her in a while. She looked relaxed now, not her usual frenzied self. Her head was slumping forwards and some black bangs were obscuring her face.  
Renji remembered seeing her for the first time after she had went to the real world. They had been strangers to each other back then, even before she was reassigned they had been. The redhead wasn't sure whose fault it had been. Was it Rukia who had started to act distant after she entered the Kuchiki family or him? He did remember thinking he should not interfere, but why had she not sought him out? Even when they had spoken back then she had just acted polite, not at all like the friends they had been.  
At some point Renji had tried to distance him mentally from her, he had tried to see her as nothing more than a fellow shinigami. But he had been too involved already. So when he went to the real world to arrest her, he had been pretty annoyed by her. Why did she always have to act like the damn victim?  
The way she had stared up to him with those big, pathetic eyes had only made him angrier. She was _Kuchiki Rukia_, a noble from a great house and now she had screwed it up. Of course he hadn't wanted her to die. He hadn't actually expected them to sentence her to that. But that had been Aizen's work.  
Renji sighed again and let his mind go blank. No use in dwelling on the past. He rubbed his face and felt his eyelids grow heavy. The warmth was so pleasant and everything was so quiet.  
He fell asleep.

'Oi Renji! What are you doing here?' a voice demanded.  
Renji opened his eyes to see Rukia standing there. 'Rukia. I was just thinking about you.' Why was he telling her this?  
'Really?' she said sarcastically.  
'Yea… I came to here to see you. I knew you'd come.'  
The girl narrowed her eyes and shook her head, 'You're so pathetic.'  
'Eh? What?'  
She started to turn away from him. 'All you can do is follow others; you didn't even try to save me before Ichigo came. Weakling!'  
'N-no! Wait! I didn't think it… There was no hope for me to…'  
But she was already gone.

Rukia watched Renji trash around below her. She considered waking him up but then he grew calm again. She stretched and leaned back again. What had he been dreaming about? She doubted he'd ever tell her. He was good at hiding his thoughts.  
Like when she had been adopted by Byakuya. She still wasn't sure why he had said the things he had back then. Did he really not care about their friendship breaking apart or was he just not showing it?  
She knew now it was probably the latter. After all, he had made some considerable efforts to renew their friendship. Fighting against Byakuya had been one of them, though not her most favorite. Having people you care about fight each other was never pleasant.  
But today he had come here again and she was happy that he had.

* * *

A/N: Yea I made a follow up. Hope it's better then the last chaper. But I really should stop writing in the middle of the night, it doesn't improve my skills (especially not English grammar). So if there are any bad mistakes, please tell me.


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